Near Sharpsburg in Washington County, Maryland — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)

Antietam Station

Railroad to Reunion

—Antietam Campaign 1862 —

By Craig Swain, July 28, 2007

1. Antietam Station Marker

Inscription. After the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, soldiers’ families traveled by rail to Hagerstown or Frederick, and then by horse and buggy to the site to recover the bodies of loved ones or to search for survivors. Thus began a constant stream of battlefield visitors that still continues. A regular Decoration Day commemoration (a forerunner of Memorial Day) began in May 1868 with a parade through Sharpsburg and the decoration of soldiers’ graves.

In 1883, the Shenandoah Valley Railway reached Sharpsburg, where the small frame Sharpsburg Station welcomed visitors to town. Every Memorial Day thousands of veterans and families passed through the station to attend parades and reunions. Soon, slate curbing and wide walkways flanked the road from the station to the cemetery. Norway maples, some of which still survive, were planted beside the road to shade veterans and their families.

Fire destroyed Sharpsburg Station in 1910, and the next year the Norfolk & Western Railway completed the present freight and passenger station in time for the 50th anniversary of the battle. Veterans also returned for the 75th anniversary in 1937; President Franklin D. Roosevelt attended the huge reenactment.

The station, renamed Antietam after two trains collided when engineers confused the words Sharpsburg and Shepherdstown, closed

By Craig Swain, July 28, 2007

2. Marker in Front of the Restored Station

late in the 1950s. A private citizen bought it and turned it around so that the bay window, which once allowed stationmasters to look up and down the tracks, faced the road.

Location. 39° 27.09′ N, 77° 46.138′ W. Marker is near Sharpsburg, Maryland, in Washington County. Marker is on Shepherdstown Pike (Maryland Route 34), on the left when traveling north. Click for map. Marker is in this post office area: Sharpsburg MD 21782, United States of America.

More about this marker. The marker features a drawing of the station by Annie Lemarie and a picture of the station as it looked while

By Brian Scott, September 19, 2015

3. Antietam Station and Marker

in operation. The caption for the latter is, The Federal government’s Antietam Battlefield Commission erected this monument in 1898. The monument is composed of eight original Parrott cannon (none of which were at the battle), set breach down on a granite block, with a pyramid of cannon balls perched atop the muzzles. The monument was disassembled in the mid-1930s, but the granite foundation remains today.

Inscription, "Battle of Antietam Fought Near Here Sept. 17, 1862." The cannon were removed and placed inside the National Battlefield Park to the north, most going to the cemetery.

By Bill Coughlin, April 11, 2011

5. Closeup of Granite Marker

Credits. This page originally submitted on , by Craig Swain of Leesburg, Virginia. This page has been viewed 2,231 times since then and 217 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on , by Craig Swain of Leesburg, Virginia. 3. submitted on , by Brian Scott of Anderson, South Carolina. 4. submitted on , by Craig Swain of Leesburg, Virginia. 5. submitted on , by Bill Coughlin of North Arlington, New Jersey. • J. J. Prats was the editor who published this page. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016.